Tis the Season!

I love the Spirit of Christmas--- love, cheerfulness, service, generosity, kindness. It is my favorite time of year! For our playgroup last week, we got our little kids involved in this beautiful Spirit. We had a Christmas Playgroup Service Activity where we made Christmas tree ornaments and decorations. Then, that afternoon, we brought our homemade decorations to a local nursing home and helped the residents decorate their Christmas tree. The residents were SO happy! It was a very sweet experience to bring such pure joy to these good people. The children also visited with the residents. The children brought them SO much joy! The tree turned out beautifully, and we were immensely blessed to be filled with the wonderful Spirit of Christmas--- the joy of making someone so happy that day.

Jonathan was a little charmer at the the nursing home. He was an angel-- each resident was absolutely thrilled to hold him. Jonathan was peaceful, engaging, and sweet with each person. It is a pleasure for me to share the overflowing joy our darling baby gives us!

Below is a slideshow of pictures of this experience (I'm afraid they don't do it justice, but, still, it will help us remember...). I couldn't get the captions to work properly, so here's a few notes on the pictures: In the morning, we made Christmas tree ornaments and decorations. We made hand-print ornaments, popsicle stick stars, and paper and colored pasta chains. About half-way through, the kids got restless, so they watched Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer while the moms finished the crafts :). That afternoon, we went to the nursing home. You can see how very happy the residents are to have the children there. They LOVED it! In turn, that made us very happy to be of service. It was a sweet experience for all who participated. It was so wonderful to help my children be involved in the true Spirit of Christmas... teach them hands-on what Christmas is all about. :) Hurray! Merrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry CHRISTMAS!!!!!!